Elizabeth College, Guernsey

Prior to the school's foundation, the Queen's Commissioners raised concern over the civil and religious administration of Guernsey.[1] The 1824 review of the school described how, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the island "was in a state of dissension and confusion" and "appears to have been most deplorable, for ignorance, superstition, and, especially, for the unsettled state of its political and religious affairs", noting that "in the year of the institution of the College, three persons were burned for witchcraft".[1]

Part of an archway attached to the cottage on the school site, the only remaining feature of the original school building

In 1563, the Privy Council recommended that Guernsey's "spiritual and temporal jurisdictions [be examined] to reform errors and abuses" and recommended the establishment of a school by Royal Charter.[1] They believed the island required secondary education so that students might go on to preach as clergymen in Guernsey in line with principles of the Protestant reformation.[6] The Charter required the States of Guernsey to found a free grammar school with a schoolmaster appointed by the Governor of Guernsey.[7]

The school was founded on 25 May 1563, by a patent roll from Queen Elizabeth I which read:

Also since there is no grammar school in the isle, to erect a free grammar school there called Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School under the seal of the isle; the schoolmaster thereof to be appointed and removable by the Captain (except the Queen shall otherwise order); the school to be endowed with wheat rentes of 80 quarters a year found to belong to the Queen by the late Commissioners.[8]

The school was instituted in September that year,[9] and was the fourth school established on the island. To create a site for the school, Franciscan friars were moved from land at La Rue Des Frères, a site which the school still occupies.[10] The first schoolmaster was Belgian scholar, Adrian Saravia,[11][12] who went on to be a translator of the King James Bible.[13] Saravia left the island by 1571, describing the local population as an "uncivilised race" which "hates all learning".[14]

Over the next two and a half centuries, the school suffered from insufficient buildings and staff and the pupil roll never exceeded 29.[15][12] Many principals were appointed, but resigned or were dismissed by the States of Guernsey.[16] In 1824, due to increased demand for a higher standard of local education and a properly-run College,[17] the island's Lieutenant Governor, John Colborne, established a committee to review the school.[10] It was re-chartered that year,[17] and by 1826, with new staff and an improved curriculum, the school was ready to attract pupils from England. On 19 October 1826, the foundation stone of a new building was laid by Colborne,[18] and the school was renamed the Royal College of Elizabeth.[10][19]

A lithograph of a drawing of the school's current main building by its architect, John Wilson

The reform introduced a register of pupils, whereby each pupil since is allocated a unique, sequential school number.[20][17] After the re-chartering, Charles Stocker was appointed principal and developed a reputation for flogging. He set out to raise the academic standing of the school and oversee the construction of the new main building.[21] In the school's first year after the re-chartering, there were more than 100 boys on the school roll. However, over the next couple of years, the number of new entrants decreased to as low as 17 in 1827. In 1829, three years after the laying of the foundation stone, the new building was ready for use.[22][23] Upper Canada College, in Toronto, Ontario, was founded in 1829 by Sir John Colborne, based on his experience with the school.[24]

In the 1850s, a new form of punishment was introduced whereby the window recesses in the upper gallery of the school were converted into 'lock-ups' in which students would be held during school hours. The wood-panelled walls of the cells were covered with carvings from those who had been held there.[25]

The school significantly expanded both its teaching and extra-curricular facilities in the latter half of the 19th century, building a gymnasium on the school site and purchasing fields in Kings Road for a cricket ground which was completed and named the College Field in 1888.[26] The old school building was converted into a science laboratory, named after Edward Ozanne.[27] Some of the biggest developments came under principal William Penney, appointed in 1888, who identified faults with the quality of teaching and attending to the building which was badly in need of repair.[28] He revised the entire syllabus, introduced masters' meetings to be held twice a term and had reports sent to parents every half term. He revised the punishment system too, only allowing himself and the vice-principal to use the cane,[29] oversaw the reincarnation of The Elizabethan magazine, and formed the Old Elizabethan Association, which set about wiping the school's debts by 1898 through a variety of money-raising ventures.[30]

An illustration of the new main building from a nearby cemetery by Armand de Quatrefages, c. 1860

In the 18th century, the school gained a reputation for catering for the sons of British government officials employed across the British Empire, many of whom followed distinguished colonial careers in their own right. In this era, the school was noted for producing students who would later join military colleges in the United Kingdom. 662 alumni served in World War I, 105 of which were known to have been killed and many more died of injuries sustained in battle, meaning approximately one in five of all the boys who had joined the school since the re-chartering had served in the Great War.[31] A roll of honour is displayed in the main hall to commemorate those who fought and died in the war.[32] Four alumni have been awarded the Victoria Cross:[6] The first in 1857 to Duncan Home,[33] followed in 1881 by John McCrea,[34] then Lewis Halliday in 1900[35] and Wallace Le Patourel in 1943.[36] The four houses at the junior school were later named in their memory.[37]

In 1939, the school remained largely unaffected by the transition from peace to the Phoney War, with many believing the Channel Islands to be the safest place in the British Isles.[38] Precautionary measures were taken nonetheless; air-raid shelters were dug in front of the school's main building, and black-out regulations required some school activities and societies to be curtailed.[38] The air-raid shelter was later converted by German forces into a secure holding area for weapons and ammunition.[39] Following developments in the war in May 1940, all the senior boys were required to join the Local Defence Volunteers and came to school with rifles slung across their shoulders. Many school activities continued uninterrupted at this point, with cricket and swimming continuing in the unusually fine weather. In June however, the extent of the dangers of war began to be realised. French resistance collapsed, after which the island's Army and RAF units left the island.[40] Fearing the imminent occupation of the Channel Islands by German forces, an evacuation scheme was quickly assembled by the school Governors with Jersey and the Home Office,[41] and on the evening of Thursday 20 June the school was evacuated to Great Hucklow, Derbyshire, where it would spend five years 'in exile',[6] during which pupils had little or no contact with their parents.[39][42]

At the start of the occupation, the school buildings were home to the States Controlling Committee, but in 1941 the German authorities demanded the use of the school buildings as headquarters and offices. A strongroom bunker was built inside what is now the AJ Perrot room, which remains to this day, albeit without the door.[39] Despite the shortages in staff, facilities and money, there were still a number of scholastic successes over this period, with eight pupils receiving scholarships to the University of Oxford.[43] The official liberation announcement by Brigadier Alfred Ernest Snow[44] was made from the steps of the school in 1945 to a crowd of cheering locals, although it was not until August that the boys were able to return home to continue their education at College. German prisoners of war were tasked with cleaning up and repairing the damage to the building, which was not as bad as had been feared initially.[39]

The school is a prominent feature of the skyline of Saint Peter Port from the east coast of the island.

The school's uptake increased at such a rate after the war that, for the first time since 1829, the main building was too small to accommodate the students. Rapid development followed, including the purchase of Beechwood, a former nursing home, in 1948 which was converted into a boarding house.[45][46] A squash court was added, the nearby Grange Club was purchased in 1950 and converted into a library, land was acquired at Footes Lane for a cricket field, and a new science block was built.[46][47]

The 1990s saw the refurbishment of the science laboratories, improved facilities for sport and physical education, and the development of a purpose-built art department.[48] Having been a boarding school since its re-chartering in 1824, the end of the 20th century saw a gradual decline in the number of children being sent to the island to board, not helped by the increasingly high fares on air and sea routes from the mainland. There was also a growing requirement for independent infant schooling in Guernsey, and so the King's Road boarding house was reopened in October 1996 as Acorn House pre-school and pre-prep.[49]

In 1992, the school accepted a group of girls into the sixth form from the relocating Blanchelande College. They were the first girls to be officially registered and receive college numbers, and provoked the first discussions about the possibility for a mixed-sex sixth form run in co-operation with the Ladies' College sixth form.[48] David Toze's appointment as principal saw a large number of changes implemented at the school. He appointed the first-ever female headteacher of Beechwood in 2000,[50] oversaw the merging of Acorn House and Beechwood into the Elizabeth College Junior School and drove forward the link between the Ladies' and Elizabeth College sixth forms.[51]

Having appointed its first-ever female principal, Jenny Palmer, in 2017,[52][53] in January 2020 the school announced that "in recognition of the needs of contemporary society", girls will be admitted to the upper school into Year 7 and into the sixth form from September 2021 as part of plans for the school to be entirely coeducational by 2025.[54][55]

The school designs its own curriculum, which was described by an Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report conducted in October 2015 as providing "an excellent range of options" and a "flexible pattern of pupil grouping ... so that the specific needs of subjects are strongly met". PSHE lessons are timetabled for years 7 and 8 and specialist themed days are hosted further up the school. As of 2015, students typically sit ten or more GCSEs and three or four A-levels.[61][58]

Assessing the quality of educational provision, in October 2015 the ISI awarded the school the highest rating of excellent in eight aspects and good in the other two. The inspection stated that "[i]n many academic ... activities pupils demonstrate high levels of knowledge and understanding as well as being both highly literate and articulate". The report praised the school for delivering the curriculum with "good teaching throughout".[58]

The breadth of the curriculum was described as "a significant strength" of the school, furthered by the co-educational sixth form partnership with the Ladies' College. The strength of the curriculum for informing the pupils' cultural awareness, in particular with appreciating Guernsey's own customs and culture in addition to other cultures, was also observed, with the cultural development of pupils being described as excellent.[58]

Approximately 40% of pupils at the school learn how to play a musical instrument,[64] and the ISI noted in October 2015 that 'many pupils achieve distinctions and merits in their instrumental music examinations'.[58]

At GCSE level, the school regularly achieves a 99% pass rate of 5 grades 9–4/A*–C including English and Maths, significantly higher than the national average of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.[63] In 2017, 99% of students achieved five or more grades 9–4/A*–C including English and Maths compared to the national average of 66%.[63]

Analysing GCSE results, the 2015 ISI inspection found that "around half of the grades achieved were A* and A grades", that "GCSE performance has been above the UK average for boys in maintained schools" and that "IGCSE results in history and maths have been higher than ... worldwide norms".[58]

The school consistently achieves A-level pass rates of 100%, with between 80–90% being graded between A*–C and about a third being grades A*–A.[65] In 2020, 37.6% of A-levels were graded A*–A, and the highest proportion of A*–A grades in recent times was 49.1% in 2012.[66][67] The 2015 ISI inspection found that "A-level results have been above the UK average for boys in maintained schools" and that "over this period, just under three-quarters of the grades were in the range A* to B".[58]

Value-added statistics, which compare the results at GCSE and A-Level against the expectations for pupils based on assessment when they joined the school, place Elizabeth College in the top 17% of all British schools.[56] Most pupils who leave the school after A-level study proceed to university or other further education and nine out of ten leavers secure places at their first choice UK universities.[56][58]